Method and apparatus for providing multi-command support in a rendering adapter

摘要

A method and apparatus for supporting multiple command sets in a single rendering adapter. A device driver operating in tandem with a rendering adapter and its associated microcode interprets disparate command sets without separate control/interpretation sections being maintained in the rendering adapter. Rendering adapter microcode in the adapter for supporting a first command set is extending to support commands in a second command set not capable of being mapped in the first command set. The device driver receives the disparate data stream command sets generated by application programs and destined for the rendering adapter. If a first command set command is received by the device driver, it is passed on to the rendering adapter substantially unmodified. If a second command set command is received by the device driver, an attempt is made to map the command into a first command set command, and then transfer this mapped command to the rendering adapter. If no mapping is possible, the received command is reformatted to conform to the syntax of the first command set, and then sent to the rendering adapter. As the rendering adapter microcode has been extending beyond interpreting and executing the first command set, this reformatted second command set command can be processed by the same parser resident in the rendering adapter microcode.